Vending machine for vending in sequence merchandise article containers from two vertically stacked adjacent columns thereof



Sept. 19, 3967 N. G. WEITZMAN 3342373 VENDING MACHINE FOR VENDING IN sEuENCE MERCHANDISE ARTICLE CONTAINERS FROM TWO VERTICALLY STACKEDADJACENT COLUMNS THEREOF Filed March 11, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l 20 a: .20FIGII 52 G2 INVENTOR flea/OMAN $1 W51 rZMA/V Sept. 19, 1967 N. s.WEITZMAN 3,342,373

' VENDING MACHINE FOR VENDING IN SEQUENCE MERCHANDISE ARTICLE CONTAINERSFROM TWO VERTICALLY STACKED ADJACENT COLUMNS THEREOF Filed March 11,1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGJO 4? i azkc a L W Q I i;

United States Patent f VENDING MACHINE FOR VENDING IN SEQUENCEMERCHANDISE ARTICLE CONTAINERS FROM TWO VERTICAL- LY STACKED ADJACENTCOLUIVINS THEREQF Norman G. Weitzman, Arnold Provisor, Attorneyat-Law,16401 Knapp St., Sepulveda, Calif. 91343 Filed Mar. 11, 1966, Ser. No.533,550 1 Claim. (Cl. 221107) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thespecification discloses a merchandise vending machine intended primarilyto vend, upon each operation, a merchandise article of a substantiallyrectangular shape, such as a small candy box, cigaret package, or thelike, from either of two vertically stacked columns thereof. Theapparatus is arranged, upon each succeeding operation to dispenseanother of the merchandise articles, and this continues in response toeach dispensing operation until all of the merchandise articles in bothof the two vertically stacked columns thereof have been vended. Thus,the effective merchandise article capacity of the vending machine can bedoubled without the necessity of increasing the over-all height of themachine to accommodate a single vertically stacked column of merchandisearticles of twice the height, as would normally be required. Also, theapparatus is effectively provided with inactivation means for preventingfalse operation of the actuating means (usually coin-controlled) whenall mer chandise articles have already been bended. Thus, a would-becustomer will know that all merchandise articles have already beenvended, and in the coin-controlled form of the invention, he will beable to remove his coin from the coin-receiving means controlling theoperation of the actuating means. Also, in one preferred form of theinvention, the front column of stacked rectangular merchandise articlescarries on the top thereof a merchandise articlesimulating, or amerchandise article container-simulating, weighted follower memberwhich, when it reaches the bottom of said front column of merchandisearticles after the last of the front-positioned merchandise articles hasbeen moved into a position under the vertically stacked merchandisearticles in the rear column thereof, then functions as a forwardly andrearwardly reciprocatable abutment coupling member comprising aneffective extension of the actuating means for transferring actuatingoperation from the front column of stacked merchandise articles to therear column of stacked merchandise articles whereby to dispense one ofsame upon each subsequent operation of the actuating means.

Generally speaking, the present invention relates to the merchandisevending machine art and, more particularly, pertains to a vendingmachine for vending in sequence merchandise articles containers (whichare usually of substantially rectangular shape as seen in top plan viewwhen so stacked and which may be said to be of substantiallyparallelopiped shape, although not specifically so limited in all formsof the invention (from two vertically stacked columns of saidmerchandise article containers which are positioned adjacent to eachother (usually one of said columns being in front of the other of saidcolumns, although not specifically so limited in all forms of theinvention).

One exemplary but non-specifically-limiting type of such a merchandisearticle container as that referred to above as being adapted to bedispensed by the improved vending machine of the present invention is asubstantially rectangular box, or similar container, carrying a PatentedSept. 19, 1967 plurality of pieces (or a single piece) of candy, gum, orthe like, therein. Another such merchandise article container might be acigarette package-in fact, a great variety of different types ofmerchandise article containers of generally parallelopiped form areparticularly well adapted to be positioned in flat, vertically stacked,superimposed relationship whereby to comprise two adjacent verticalcolumns thereof cooperable with the novel vending machine of the presentinvention for allowing the individual dispensing of one such merchandisearticle container at a time from the bottom of first one column .andthen the other column, in sequence, until all such merchandise articlecontainers have been dispensed. Each dispensing operation may be causedby movement of an actuating member in a manner such as to effectivelycause the dispensing of a selected bottom-positioned merchandise articlecontainer, which will be discharged into a convenient accessible removaltray, or other desired type of discharge means, so that a person who hasinitiated the dispensing operation of said actuating member may pick upor otherwise receive the desired merchandise article container, thuscompleting a vending and delivery operation. In certain forms of theinvention, the actuating member referred to above may be under thecontrol of a coin-receiving apparatus which initiates the dispensingoperation thereof and, in some particular forms, such a coin-receivingapparatus may be of a manually operable conventional slide-type whichmay be effectively directly coupled with respect to the actuating memberpreviously referred to for bringing about a merchandise containerdispensing operation in the general manner referred to above. However,the invention is not limited to any particular type of coin-receivingapparatus or, indeed, to the use of coin-receiving apparatus at all forinitiating the operation of the actuating means and, broadly speaking,is intended to include and comprehend any arrangement of the typereferred to including means for controllably initiating operation ofsuch actuating means.

Incidentally, it should be noted that the expression merchandise articlecontainer and the expression merchandise article containers are intendedto be broadly construed as covering both the package type of item referred to above, which contains one or more objects or merchandisearticles therein, and as covering a complete individual merchandisearticle itself whether in a box, wrapped, covered, or otherwisecontained or not. In other words, the words container and containers areto be very broadly construed and are intended to cover even merchandisearticles which do not have any exterior covering but which are ofsubstantially the configuration referred to above.

stacked, the invention is not specifically so limited in all formsthereof since it is quite possible to vertically stack substantiallyflat merchandise articles which have a plan view shape when so stackedother than rectangular and which will cooperate for dispensing of thebottom merchandise article of one or the other of said vertically tackedcolumns in substantially the same manner as that referred tohereinbefore. Therefore, it should be clearly understood that suchslightly modified forms of the invention are intended to be included andcomprehended Within the broad scope of the present invention and theexpression merchandise article container and the expression merchandisearticle containers are intended to be construed in the light of theforegoing statement, as is the remainder of the apparatus disclosed anddescribed in detail hereinafter.

I am aware of the fact that certain vending machines have been developedin the past which vertically stack a plurality of merchandise articlesand vend a bottom article in response to selective operation ofdispensing means. However, all such prior art vending machines of thetype just mentioned known to me are incapable of first vending from onevertically stacked column of such merchandise article containers andthen switching over to and vending from a second column of suchmerchandise article containers in the manner of the present invention,which makes it possible to store twice as many merchandise articlecontainers within a vending machine of any given height as has beenpossible with such prior art vending machines wherein the vending actiononly occurs from the bottom of a single vertically stacked column ofmerchandise articles or merchandise article containers.

Of course, in a preferred form of the present invention, there willusually be a plurality of pairs of adjacent vertically stackedmerchandise article containers and a corresponding number of theslide-type coin-receiving means so that a person stepping up to thefront of the vending machine may select a particular type of merchandisearticle and place his coin in the corresponding coin-receiving means andmanually operate same for dispensing a selected type of merchandisearticle container. However, while this is a convenient arrangement in acommercial vending machine, it should be clearly understood that theinvention is not specifically so limited and, actually, the inventioncovers an arrangement comprising just two adjacent vertically stackedcolumns of merchandise article containers, or any plurality of suchpairs thereof, with each being substantially similar to any individualpair thereof. In the multiple pair form of the invention, usually acommon discharge chute means is positioned to receive vended ordischarged merchandise article containers from any of the plurality ofvertically stacked pairs there of for feeding same under the action ofgravity toward a frontally-positioned forwardly and upwardly open andaccessible removal tray means to provide for convenient removal of thevended merchandise article container by the person who has operated thecoin-receiving means. However, the invention is not limited to such acommon discharge chute means but may employ individual discharge chutemeans in certain forms thereof, if desired.

With the above points in mind, it is an object of the present inventionto provide novel apparatus of the character referred to herein havingany or all of the advantages referred to herein, generally and/orspecifically and individually and/or in combination, and which is ofextremely simple, inexpensive construction adapted for ready massmanufacture at relatively low cost and which is of virtuallymaintenance-free construction such as to be conductive to widespread usethereof.

Further objects are implicit in the detailed description which followshereinafter (which is to be considered as exemplary of, but notspecifically limiting the present invention), and said objects will beapparent to persons skilled in the art after a careful study of thedetailed description which follows hereinafter.

For the purpose of clarifying the nature of the present invention, oneexemplary embodiment of the invention is iilustrated in thehereinelow-described figures of the accompanying two sheets of drawingsand is described in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a reduced-size, fragmentary, partly-brokenaway, exterior,three-dimensional, pictorial view illustrating one typical exemplaryform of merchandise vending machine.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, partly-broken-away view, partly in section andpartly in elevation, taken substantially along the plane indicated bythe arrows 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, partly-broken-away view similar to the centralportion of FIG. 2 but illustrates it after a plurality of merchandisearticle containers have been sequentially dispensed.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but follows same in time anddispensing sequence and shows the apparatus after all of the merchandisearticle containers shown in the rear column in FIG. 3 have beendispensed.

FIG. 5 is a view taken substantially on the plane indicated by thearrows 55 of FIG. 2, although certain front portions of the apparatusare shown in top plan view and partly broken away for the purpose ofproviding a maximum disclosure in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view generally similar to FIG. 5 but is takensubstantially along the much lower plane indicated by the arrows 66 ofFIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational View taken substantiallyin the direction of the arrows 7-7 of FIG. 5 and clearly illustrates anexemplary one of the three resilient forcibly defiectable gate memberspositioned across the merchandise-article-container-discharging egressopening at the rear of each of the three pairs of vertically stackedmerchandise article containers.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary, partially-broken-away view similar to thecorresponding central portion of FIG. 2 but illustrates the apparatusafter a coin has been received by the corresponding right coin-receivingmeans and after the corresponding rearwardly directed actuating memberthereof has been partially forcibly rearwardly moved by the applicationof manual force to the front end of the slide-type coin-receiving means.

FIG. 9 illustrates the next step in the dispensing operation started inFIG. 8 and shows the two bottom merchandise article containers afterthey have been rearwardly shifted to an even greater extent than theirpositions as shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged, fragmentary, three-dimensional, pictorial Viewillustrating the rear end of one of the actuating members of thecorresponding one of the slide-type coin-receiving means and shows sameimmediately prior to when the corresponding weighted follower membernormally overlying the front column of vertically stacked merchandisearticle containers drops into gravity-caused engagement therewith in themanner clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 so that a dispensing operationalsequence of the type illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9 can be performed eventhough all of the front merchandise article containers have beenpreviously dispensed and only rear merchandise article containersremain.

One exemplary embodiment of the novel vending machine of the presentinvention comprises an upstanding housing or cabinet means, such as isgenerally designated by the reference numeral 20, which in the exampleillustrated, comprises an upper housing or cabinet portion 20U and alower housing or cabinet portion 201. adapted to be suitably verticallyjoined together by fastening means, such as the threaded fastenersindicated at 22. In the exemplary arrangement illustrated, each of saidupper and lower housing or cabinet portions 20U and 20L is ofsubstantialy rectangular or parallelopiped shape and is made of sheetmetal, although it may be made of any suitable material and may be madein the form of a single vertical cabinet rather than in the form of thetwo vertically adja cent cabinet portions 20U and 20L, if desired. Inother words, the construct-ion of the housing or cabinet 20 is merelyexemplary and may be modified substantially within the broad scope ofthe present invention.

The exemplary upper cabinet or housing portion 20U has a hollow interiormerchandise chamber 24 defined therein and is provided with acontrollably openable and closable and controllably lockable frontaccess door 26 which can be opened in order to provide convenient frontaccess into said interior merchandise chamber 24 when desired.

In the exemplary form illustrated, said front access door 26 has akey-operated lock 28 adjacent to the top thereof which operates a rotarylocking projection 30 positioned behind the door 26 and which is adaptedto be controllably rotated into locking engagement with an inwardlyprojecting retaining or locking lip 32 carried by the remaining rigidpart of the upper housing or cabinet portion 20U.

The lower end-of the access door 26 is provided with an inwardly anddownwardly directed effective pivotal engagement flange 34 which isadapted to be first positioned over and engaged with respect to alaterally directed locking lip 36 comprising a part of the remainingrigid part of the upper housing cabinet portion 20U.

Said access door 26 has rearwardly directed side and top edge flanges 38which encompass the corresponding edge portions of the rigid or fixedremaining part of the upper housing or cabinet portion 20U in anedge-compassing or covering manner. This provides a convenient accessdoor construction and arrangement to allow easy access into the interiorchamber 24 by a vending machine serviceman whenever desired for thepurpose of replenishing a depleted supply of merchandise articlecontainers and for the purpose of removing coins, and yet will preventunauthorized access thereinto by other persons.

The lower cabinet or housing portion 20L may be of similar constructionand may have a similar front access door 26 provided with a similar lock28', locking projection 30', and lower engagement lip portion 34'. Infact, the access door construction of the lower housing portion 20L maybe substantially identical to that of the upper housing portion 20Udescribed in detail above and, therefore, corresponding parts thereofare indicated by similar reference numerals, primed, however, and nofurther and repetitive description thereof is thought necessary ordesirable.

The lower cabinet portion 20L may be interiorly provided with aplurality of shelves 39 for storing additional merchandise atriclecontainers, repair or replacement parts for the vending machine, or anyother desired items. If desired, the lower access door 26 may bepositioned at the back or either side of the lower housing portion 201.or may be removed entirely, if desired, to allow front access, sideaccess, or rear access thereinto by the store owner or proprietor of theestablishment where the vending machine is located.

The upper housing or cabinet means portion 20U is provided within thehollow interior merchandise chamber 24 thereof with a pair of forwardlyand rearwardly adjacent, vertically directed merchandise articlecontainer receiving and vertical stacking guide channel means, such asgenerally designated at 40 and 42 in FIG. 2.

Actually, in the exemplary three-unit form of the invention illustrated,there are three such pairs of forward ly and rearwardly adjacentstacking guide channel means 40 and 42 and the intermediate and leftpairs thereof are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 in addition to the right pairthereof shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 8, and 9 in addition to FIGS. 5 and 6.However, it should be clearly noted that the vending machine maycomprise only one such pair of stacking channels 40 and 42, in certainforms thereof, or may comprise any desired number of pairs of stackingguide channel means.

It will be noted that each of said stacking guide channel means 40 and42 is formed of, or defined by, sheet metal material which, in theexemplary form of the invention illustrated, is made up of a pluralityof U-shaped and Z-shaped members suitably joined together by welding,mechanical fasteners, or otherwise, and rigidly vertically mounted inupstanding relationship above a floor panel member 44, which is rigidlypositioned within the interior chamber 24 extending across and betweenopposite side walls of the upper housing or cabinet portion 20U. Thestructure of each of said three pairs of forwardly and rearwardlyadjacent vertical stacking guide channel means 40 and 42 is most clearlyshown in FIG. 5 and the mounting thereof on said floor panel is mostclearly shown in FIG. 2.

It will be noted that each of said front stacking guide channel means 40has a front opening or vertical slot 46 which extends the completevertical height thereof and has a similar rear opening or vertical slot48 which extends the complete vertical height thereof and whichcommunicates directly with the interior of the corresponding rearstacking guide channel means 42 along the com plete vertical heightthereof. However, the rear face of each of the rear stacking guidechannel means 42 is not similarly open, but is closed by a continuousvertical rear wall means 50 which extends between, and is fastened to,opposite side walls of the upper housing or cabinet portion 20U.

Thus, it will be seen, as is best shown in FIG. 5, that each forwardlyand rearwardly adjacent pair of stacking guide channel means 40 and 42is of substantially rectangular configuration as seen in top plan viewsuch as to be adapted to vertically receive and vertically stack thereinin a flat relationship, and in corresponding front and rear columns, aplurality of similarly sized and substantially rectangularly shapedmerchandise article containers, such as designated by the referencenumeral 52. The front column of such vertically stacked merchandisearticle containers 52 is generally designated by the reference numeral52FC while the rear column thereof is generally designated by thereference numeral 52RC.

Each of the stacking guide channel means 40 and 42 of each pair thereofhas a laterally enlarged merchandisearticle-container transfer opening54 of substantially rectangular configuration as seen in front or rearelevation and which is laterally wider than the corresponding overlyingintermediate opening 48, as is most clearly apparent from carefulcomparison of the showing of FIG. 6 with respect to the showing of FIG.5. Indeed, said transfer opening is very slightly wider than the longestdimension of any one of the flat stacked merchandise article containers52, and said transfer opening 54 is slightly higher than the verticalthickness of the merchandise article container 52, thus making itpossible for the bottom merchandise article container 52 of the frontcolumn 52FC thereof to be rearwardly moved through the transfer opening54 into the rear stacking guide channel 42 in a manner which will bedescribed hereinafter.

Each rear stacking guide channel means 42 is provided with a rearmerchandise-article-container-discharging egress opening 56 which has ashape substantially similar to that of the previously-described transferopening 54 and thus is of a size sutficient to allow a rear bottommerchandise article container 52 to be rearwardly moved through saidrear egress opening 56 whereby to be discharged downwardly, under theaction of gravity, onto the downwardly forwardly inclined merchandisearticle container discharge chute means, generally designated at 58,which extends downwardly and forwardly toward the front of the upperhousing portion 20U and extends through a transverse front opening 60therein and there is provided with, and terminates in, a forwardly andupwardly open and accessible removal tray means 62 from which adispensed or vended merchandise article 52 can be manually removed by aperson who has purchased same by way of coin-initiated operation of thevending machine.

It should be noted that the bottom of the previouslymentioned frontopening or vertical slot 46 into each of the front stacking guidechannel means 40 effectively comprises what might be called a frontactuation opening lying immediately above the level of the bottom floorpanel 44 and substantially aligned with the intermediately rearwardlypositioned transfer opening 54 and completely rearwardly positioneddischarging egress opening 56 so that a rearwardly directed actuationmember 64 controllably slidably carried by the manually operablecoin-receiving means of the slide type, generally designated at 66, maybe forcibly rearwardly moved through said front actuation opening 46when a proper coin has been placed in the corresponding coin-receivingaperture 68 and the slide handle 70, which is positioned at the forwardend of said actuating member 64, is forcibly rearwardly moved. This willresult in two things occurring. First, the coin will be slidably movedthrough the fixed coin receiver housing 71 and will drop downwardly outof the bottom thereof into a lower coin-receiving tray or trough 72 forlater removal by a vending machine serviceman. Second, the rear end ofthe actuating member 64 will be forcibly moved rearwardly through saidfront actuation opening 46 at the bottom of the corresponding frontstacking guide channel means 40 and will forcibly abut a front bottommerchandise article container 52 and start to move same rearwardlythrough the corresponding transfer opening 54, as is shown in the act ofoccurring in FIG. 8. The forcible rearward movement of the bottom frontmerchandise article container 52 through the transfer opening 54 willresult in its forcibly rearwardly displacing the rear bottom merchandisearticle 52 through the rear discharging egress opening 56 so that itwill drop downwardly onto the previously mentioned discharge chute means58 for gravity-caused movement to the front-positioned merchandiseremoval tray 62 previously mentioned. This is shown in the act ofoccurring and in an initial stage thereof in FIG. 8 and is shown in asubsequent stage thereof in FIG. 9 just prior to completion of thevending operation just described.

It will be noted that the egress opening 56 is provided with a resilientforcibly defiectable gate member 74 which merely comprises a flat,resilient, spring-like member of either metal or plastic suitablymounted in a rear lip or flange 76 between spaced opposed portionsthereof lying immediately behind an aperture or hole 78. This providesone convenient type of resilient gate member which merely acts tonormally maintain the rear bottom merchandise article container 52 inits proper vertically aligned position with respect to the plurality ofoverlying merchandise article containers until such time as it isforcibly rearwardly displaced in the manner just described above andillustrated in sequence in FIGS. 8 and 9 for the purpose of bringingabout the vending or dispensing thereof. However, each of the three gatemembers 74 may be modified substantially within the broad spirit andscope of the present invention and, in certain forms thereof, may beeliminated entirely.

It should be noted that the transfer opening 54 and the egress opening56 in each case is of a vertical height greater than the vertical heightof one merchandise article container 52 but less than the verticalheight of two merchandise article containers 52, thus allowing only onemerchandise article container 52 to be dispensedduring any given vendingor dispensing operation.

It should also be noted that the rear portion 44R of the bottom panel isdisplaced upwardly slightly above the level of the front portion 44Fthereof. This provides an arrangement such that the rear edge of thefront merchandise article container 52 strikes or abuts the front edgeof the rear merchandise article container 52, as is best shown in FIG.8, in a slightly downwardly displaced relationship with respect thereto,thus avoiding any possibility of the rear edge of said front merchandisearticle container 52 inadvertently becoming engaged with the lower frontedge of the second-from-the-bottom rear merchandise article container52, which would have the effect of jamming the apparatus and preventingthe completion of a dispensing operation. This is most clearly shown inFIG. 8.

Each front column 52FC of the merchandise article containers 52 normallycarries thereon, within the corresponding front stacking guide channelmeans 40, a weighted follower member 80 which facilitates thegravityfeeding downwardly of the underlying front merchandise articlecontainers 52 and which, after all of said front merchandise articlecontainers 52 have been dispensed, reaches the bottom of the frontstacking channel means 40, as is clearly shown in FIG. 3. When thisoccurs, a

pair of engagement hook means 82 of said weighted follower member 80drops over and engages the corresponding front actuation member 64comprising a part of the corresponding coin-receiving means 66, as isclearly shown in FIG. 3 and in perspective just prior to suchgravitycaused engagement in FIG. 10.

When in the engaged position of FIG. 3, said weighted follower member 80comprises an effective extension of the actuating member 64 andfunctions as a replacement for a front bottom merchandise articlecontainer 52 for the purpose of a dispensing operation in the mannerpreviously described and illustrated in sequence in FIGS. 8 and 9. Inother Words, under such circumstances, the front portion of saidweighted follower member 80 is adapted to be moved rearwardly throughthe transfer opening 54 and to rearwardly displace the rear bottommerchandise article container 52 through the egress opening 56 wherebyto dispense same in a manner similar to that previously described inconnection with FIGS. 8 and 9. However, when the slide handle of thecoin-receiving means 66 is pulled outwardly again, the weighted followerwill return to its former position as shown in FIG. 3 and will be readyfor use in the next or subsequent dispensing operation.

A combination weighted follower means and inactivation means 84 isadapted to rest upon a top merchandise article container 52 in any givenrear column SZRC thereof and to lie within the corresponding rearstacking guide channel means 42 whereby to gradually descend thereinafter each dispensing operation of said rear column of merchandisearticles 52RC until it reaches the bottom thereof, as is clearly shownin FIG. 4, where it effectively inactivates the previously-mentionedactuating means 64 and the corresponding slide-type coin-receiving means66 by reason of said weighted follower and inactivation means 84 havinga top edge portion 86 which extends upwardly too high to rearwardly passthrough the egress opening 56. Thus it completely blocks any furtheroperation of the corresponding coin-receiving means 66 and will not evenallow a coin placed in the coin aperture 68 to be moved into theinterior of the fixed housing portion 71 thereof within the upperportion 20U of the vending machine. As soon as a prospective purchaserattempts to do this and finds that he cannot do so, he will realize thatthe particular merchandise article container desired is out of stock andhe will retrieve his coin from the coin aperture 68, which is usuallyprovided with a reduced-size bottom aperture to facilitate such a coinretrieval operation.

It should be noted that the invention is not limited to the use of theslide-type coin-receiving means, such as generally designated at 66.Actually, various other types of coin-receiving mechanisms such as typeshaving rotary operating handles, which bring about the dispensingoperation after the insertion of a proper coin, may be employed in lieuof the slide-type coin-receiving means generally designated at 66 andvarious other types of coinreceiving and dispensing operation initiatingmeans may be employed in lieu thereof and may be directly mechanicallycoupled either rotatively, linearly, or otherwise, or may beelectrically coupled with respect to the actuating means. In this lattercase, it may only be necessary to have a single coin-receiving mechanismwith a selectorfor choosing any particular pair of double columns fromwhich the merchandise article container will be dispensed. Also, in someforms of the invention, no coin-receiving apparatus at all need beemployed and the actuating means may be operated without being initiatedby the receipt of a coin and this may be done mechanically,electrically, or otherwise in various different manners generallysimiiar to those referred to above in the coin-operated form of theinvention, or in any other controllably operable way.

It should be understood that the figures and the specific descriptionthereof set forth in this application are for the purpose ofillustrating the present invention and are not to be construed aslimiting the present invention to the precise and detailed specificstructure shown in the figures and specifically described hereinbefore.Rather, the real invention is intended to include substantiallyequivalent constructions embodying the basic teachings and inventiveconcept of the present invention.

I claim:

A vending machine for sequentially vending bottompositioned merchandisearticle containers from two vertically stacked adjacent columns thereof,comprising: a housing and cabinet means having a hollow interiormerchandise chamber therein, said housing and cabinet means beingprovided at a location within said merchandise chamber with a pair offorwardly and rearwardly adjacent vertically directed merchandisearticle receiving and vertical stacking guide channel means adapted tovertically receive and vertically stack therein in corresponding frontand rear columns a plurality of merchandise article containers, each ofsaid stacking guide channel means of said pair thereof being providedwith a floor panel at the bottom thereof and an intermediate merchandisetransfer opening communicating the rear of the front one of said pair ofstacking guide channel means with the front of the rear one of said pairof stacking guide channel means, said rear stacking guide channel meansbeing provided with a rear merchandise discharging egress openingimmediately above the level of said floor panel and transverselysubstantially aligned with said merchandise transfer opening, the frontone of said pair of stacking guide channel means being provided with afront actuation opening immediately above the level of said floor paneland substantially transversely aligned with the intermediatelypositioned merchandise transfer opening and the rearwardly positionedmerchandise discharging egress opening; and a controllably operablerearwardly directed actuating means horizontally transversely alignedwith said front actuation opening for forcible rearward movementtherethrough into abutting contact with a bottom merchandise articlecontainer adapted to be positioned at the bottom of a front columnthereof and for consequent forcible rearward movement of said bottommerchandise article container rearwardly through said merchandisetransfer opening and into forcible abutment with a similar merchandisearticle container adapted to be positioned at the bottom of a rearcolumn of merchandise article con tainers for forcible dischargingthereof through said rear merchandise discharging egress opening; saidbottom floor panel being completely closed and having a completelyclosed front portion underlying the front one of said pair of stackingguide channel means and having a completely closed rear portionunderlying the rear one of said pair of stacking guide channel means,said rear portion of said bottom floor panel being displaced upwardlyslightly above the level of said front portion of said bottom floorpanel and providing an arrangement such that a second from the bottommerchandise article container adapted to be positioned at the bottom ofa rear column thereof will be substantially above the level of a bottommerchandise article container adapted to be positioned at the bottom ofa front column thereof whereby forcible rearward movement of a frontbottom merchandise article container rearwardly through said merchandisetransfer opening and into forcible abutment with a similar merchandisearticle container adapted to be positioned at the bottom of a rearcolumn of merchandise article containers will positively pass below andnot abut a second from the bottom rearpositioned merchandise articlecontainer; a merchandise article container-simulating weighted followermember adapted to be positioned in gravity-caused top engagement with atop merchandise article container adapted to be stacked in a frontcolumn thereof in said front stacking guide channel means and providedwith gravity-operated engagement means for engagement with saidactuating member when the last merchandise article container in thefront column thereof has been transferred through said merchandisetransfer opening to the bottom of the rear column of merchandise articlecontainers and thereafter being operable as a forwardly and rearwardlyreciprocatable abutment coupling member and effective extension for saidactuating member for sequentially rearwardly abutting the bottommerchandise article container of said rear column thereof for forciblydischarging same through said rear merchandise discharging egressopening in response to each rearward actuation of said actuating member;said gravity-operated engagement meanscomprising an upwardly recessed,partially cut-away, outwardly projecting engagement plate portion,integrally carried by the outer end of said merchandise articlecontainer-simulating follower member being provided with a pair ofdownwardly directed, laterally spaced engagement hook means shaped andsized for gravity-operated, downward slip-over engagement with respectto said actuating means weighted follower means and inactivation meansadapted to rest upon atop merchandise article container in said rearcolumn thereof and to gradually descend said rear stacking guide channelmeans after each dispensing operation of said rear column of verticallystacked merchandise article containers until it reaches the bottom ofsaid rear stacking guide channel means where it effectively inactivatesthe actuating means by reason of its being provided with a top edgeportion extending upwardly too high to rearwardly pass through said rearmerchandise discharging egress opening; said merchandise transferopening is of a vertical height greater than the vertical height of onevertically stacked merchandise article container but less than thevertical height of two vertically stacked merchandise articlecontainers, said merchandise discharging egress opening being of avertical height greater than the vertical height of one verticallystacked merchandise article container but less than the vertical heightof two vertically stacked merchandise article containers; and beingprovided with a resilient forcibly outwardly deflectable gate memberpositioned across said merchandise discharging egress opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 519,448 5/1894 Dieterich 221-1521,420,834 6/1922 Giles 221107 1,879,884 9/1932 Rowe 221268 X 1,903,0673/1933 Richardson et al. 221107 1,967,114 7/1934 Cutler 221-1071,977,543 10/1934 Casau 221107 2,380,093 7/1945 Wilder 221107 X2,578,545 12/1951 Haase et al. 221107 3,194,431 7/1965 Garvin 221-107 X3,269,596 8/1966 Domenico et a1 221-107 FOREIGN PATENTS 229,890 8/ 1960Australia.

WALTER SQBIN, Primary Examiner,

